Usain Bolt

My little 17 month old Portuguese Water Dog is the fastest dog on earth.  well, actually, that's not entirely true.  What I mean, is that he's the fastest sprinter on earth.

Just like Usain Bolt, our doggy is built for speed in short bursts..he's not a long distance kinda dog.  When we take him out for his morning walk, he walks dutifully by our side for about 40 minutes.  Lunch time is a bit shorter as my time is limited.  However, he's good with the distance and the pace.  At about 330pm or so, he goes out for about an hour.  The pace is always a brisk walk..and once again, he's dutifully by our side.

....but...

In the evening, well, that's a whole different story.  Every evening, every dog in my neighbourhood gathers at our local soccer field.  This is the only place where our town allows us to run our doggies off-leash.  Let me get off track for a bit..  I live in an area where there are more dogs than people.  There are parks and green spaces every few blocks.  But, we are the only neighbourhood in the city that DOES NOT  have a dog park!!!  So, every night, a few of us would gather at the parks closest to our homes, and let our little guys run free and interact with other dogs.  We always cleaned up after our doggies and we made a few friends in the process.  Well, that came to a screeching halt when the home-owners next to the parks started complaining to the city.  We always found that incredible as most people living near the parks had dogs of their own...but hey, you can't fight city hall..and it was interesting that the Mayor was also one of the dog owners banned from the public parks!!

Anyway, to go on with my story, every evening, we all meet at the soccer field.  My doggy is brilliant by the way.  He knows that the evening walk is like no other.  He starts to get excited right after dinner because he know what's coming up.  So, once the garage door opens, my doggy starts pulling me down the street on the way to the field.  Every now and then, I remind him with a slight snap to the leash, that he's supposed to be walking by my side.  He slows down for about 15 seconds, and then starts to speed up again.  And so it goes...pull, snap, slow-down, speed-up..pull, snap, slow-down, speed-up..pull, snap, slow-down, speed-up..all the way to the soccer field.  Once there, he's like a car revving his engine.  He's ready to GO!!  His foot is on the accelerator, and he's just waiting for me to unhook his leash from his collar.  The minute he hears the click..HE"S OFF!!!  He sprints down the length of the soccer field.  My little Usain Bolt catches up with other dogs that are 50 feet ahead of him.  He runs circles around them..no one can catch him.  He runs, he runs, he runs.  But, because he's not built for long distances, he just plops down on the grass when he's tired, and he DOESN'T MOVE!!!

All the other dogs run up beside him, they nudge him, they try to play..but my little PWD just sits there, panting.  Every now and then he'll get a second wind..but most of the time, he just sits on the coolness of the grass, watching all the other doggies play around him.

One last thing you should know.  The soccer field is about 20 minutes from my home (walking).  In the evenings, with my eager dog, it takes us about 10 minutes to get there because he's so eager to run.  However,  when it's time to leave the field, it can take up to a half hour or more.  Doggy just doesn't want to MOVE.  I have to drag him off the field, and then try to pry him off every lawn in the city as he runs onto other people's propety and just lies down on their grass!! 

Like I said, my little Usain Bolt is quite the sprinter...but when the race is over...it's OVER!!



For more blogs, please visit http://cluelesspuppyowner.blogspot.com/ and http://thecluelesspuppyowner.blogspot.com/